Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

Employees are embracing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) at a very quick pace as they shift towards lower-premium High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). The flexibility of this Consumer Driven Account (CDA) makes it one of the most cost-effective ways to pay for qualified healthcare expenses and people are taking notice. Each year, HSAs are more prevalent in the healthcare and financial industry news as a great strategy to set money aside to pay for qualified expenses now and in retirement.

Employer HSA Features:

Online management

Efficient contributions

Integrated enrollment

Dedicated service

Your client's employees receive a seamless HSA experience that allows them to take advantage of everything an HSA plan offers, including:

The integration includes enrollment and eligibility data for any BCBS members who are enrolled in an HSA-qualified high deductible health plan (HDHP). Flex is automatically notified about qualifying BCBS members from a group client and coordinates HSA enrollments directly with the members.

Once enrolled, BCBS members can then easily access their HSA online at myflexaccount.com with a single click from the Blue Access for Members (BAM) web site. They do not need to provide additional sign-in credentials to get to their HSA from Flex. Learn more!

Health Savings Account (HSA) FAQs

Here are the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).These will help you better understand this product and its primary functions.

What is a Health Savings Account (HSA)?

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a savings product that offers a different way to pay for healthcare. HSAs enable participants to pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.

Only those enrolled in a qualifying High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) can take advantage of HSAs. The best part about an HSA is that the participant owns and controls the money in the HSA, without any third-party or health insurer telling them how to use it.

HSA participants enjoy several benefits, including:

They can claim a tax deduction for post-tax contributions.

Contributions to the HSA made by an employer (including contributions made through a cafeteria plan) may be excluded from the participant’s gross income.

The contributions remain in the HSA from year to year until they are used.

The interest or other earnings on the assets in the HSA are tax free.

Distributions may be tax free if they are used to pay for qualified medical expenses.

An HSA is “portable” so it stays with the participant if they change employers or leave the workforce altogether.

Does an HSA pay for the same things that regular insurance pays for?

HSA funds can pay for any “qualified medical expense,” even if the expense is not covered by the HDHP. For example, most health insurance does not cover the cost of over-the-counter medicines, but HSAs can. HSA rules state that If the money from the HSA is used for qualified medical expenses, then the money spent is tax-free.

What is included as “qualified medical expenses”?

For a definitive list of “qualified medical expenses”, please refer to the HSA Rules in IRS Publication 969 – available at http://www.irs.gov.

What happens if the money in the HSA is not used for qualified for medical expenses

If the money is used for items other than qualified medical expenses, the expenditure will be taxed and, for individuals who are under age 65, subject to a 20% tax penalty.

Who can contribute to an HSA?

According to HSA rules, any eligible individual can contribute to an HSA. For an employee's HSA, the employee, the employee's employer, or both may contribute to the employee's HSA in the same year. For an HSA established by a self-employed (or unemployed) individual, the individual can contribute. Family members or any other person may also make contributions on behalf of an eligible individual.